Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that Jason Hill, 27, of Carl Junction, was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison without parole.

U.S. District Judge Greg Kays also ordered Hill to pay restitution to one of his victims, who is depicted in the images of child pornography.

If paid within 30 days, Hill must pay $3,000 in restitution, but if paid after 30 days, he must pay $5,000 in restitution.

On Sept. 27, 2012, Hill was convicted following a three-day trial of one count of receiving and distributing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography.

An officer with the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes Task Force, while conducting an investigation, discovered that Hill was receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet through peer-to-peer, file-sharing software on his computer.

The task force officer accessed the shared folder on Hill’s computer and obtained 773 files. Approximately 551 of the file titles indicated that they were pornographic. Approximately 266 of the file titles pertained to child pornography.

Of the 266 file titles, 25 files had been identified in previous investigations as containing known child pornography. The task force officer downloaded 10 of these 25 images of child pornography from Hill’s computer.

Officers executed a federal search warrant and seized four computers and various computer media from Hill’s residence.

Investigators found three videos that portrayed the sexual abuse of children under the age of 14 and four additional images of child pornography (besides those images that were downloaded by the task force officer). There was forensic evidence that the computers had once contained additional images of child pornography.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall D. Eggert and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Miller. It was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations and the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes Task Force.